The first and only slasher themed text based RegEx learning game.

RegEx stands for Regular Expressions.

It is a way to flexibly search for patterns in text using symbols to represent different options.

Tools that support RegEx include Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Screaming Frog, Python and JavaScript (which this game uses).
RegEx can be useful for things like:

  • Categorising web pages in analytics data
  • Extracting specific pieces of data like phone numbers or emails from blocks of text
  • Detecting data which shouldn't be recorded and deleting it (again like emails etc.)
  • Grouping keywords (though grouping tools are often more effective)

Slash\Escape is a text-based RegEx learning game.

To start, scroll down, choose your difficulty and hit the "new game" button.

You will be told a story. At each step you need to write RegEx to make choices.

If you get it right, you'll progress, if you get it wrong - you won't.

To play - write your answer into the form and press enter or hit "submit" you don't need to write any formulas with your answer, just write the exact regex you want to use.

Right: .*

Wrong: regex_extract(".*"")

There will be a glowing red ? in the top right hand corner of your screen.

Click that button for :

  1. Hints for the problem you're on
  2. An explanation for why it's useful to know something.

If you complete the game you'll activate speed-mode.

Text will come up immediately after each stage.

If you complete on True RegEx mode you'll get a custom Tweet telling everyone how fast you did it and how many lives you have left. You know - for all the bragging rights.

Check out my blog for my other projects.

There is no timer

You can get it wrong as many times as you like.

Make the most of your time - feel free to use tools like regex101 to check your answers.

Hints Uses What we've learned